Photography is the process of recording images though the capture of light onto a light-sensitive medium, such as a film or an electronic sensor. As a part of the process, light patterns reflected or emitted from objects are allowed to expose a sensitive silver halide based chemical or an electronic medium during a timed exposure. The light patterns can be captured through the photographic lens of a camera, which depending on its type can store the captured images chemically or electronically. The captured images are used to produce photographs that contain the captured images.
Once a photograph is produced the images contained therein can be modified through image editing processes. Traditional analog image editing is also known as photo retouching, and involves the usage of tools such as an airbrush to modify photographs. However, since the advent of digital images, analog image editing has become largely obsolete. Graphic software programs, which can be broadly grouped into vector graphics editors, raster graphics editors, and 3D modelers, are the primary tools with which a user may manipulate, enhance, and transform images.
Conventional image editing techniques are used to alter the appearance of photographic images after a photograph has been taken. Accordingly, the effectiveness of such techniques can be limited because basic quality deficits in a photograph that are attributable to the lack of skill and experience of the photograph taker may not be solvable by conventional image editing and currently cannot be addressed using conventional cameras.
The quality of photographs taken by the average photograph taker is directly impacted by the knowledge and ability that the photograph taker brings to the task of taking a photograph. A lack of photographic knowledge is generally reflected in the difference in quality that is observable between a photograph that is taken by the average photograph taker and a photograph that is taken by a skilled and experienced photographer.
Given the great sentimental value placed on some photographs, missed photographic opportunities can be very undesirable. Conventional cameras provide users with very limited guidance that can ensure that fleeting photographic opportunities are not lost. As such, conventional cameras provide inadequate systems for supporting the photographic aspirations of the average photograph taker who possesses average photograph taking skills and who desires to maximize the quality of the photographs that they are preparing to take.